Leon Trotsky: Letter to Alfonso Leonetti

March 6, 1932

[Writing of Leon Trotsky, Vol. 13. Supplement (1929-1933), New York 1979, p. 107 f., title: “When Ultra-leftists Can Be More Correct”]

Dear Comrade Souzo:

Thank you very much for the documentation on the Bordigists. It’s really classic the way sectarians of this kind look for every possible reason for the criticism against them except the only valid one. In my new pamphlet I explain again how the ultraleftists can be more correct than the opportunists, and vice versa: it depends on the character of the period. Until 1929, during the opportunist zigzags of the Stalinists, the Bordigists were a more or less progressive factor. Now, in a period of struggle against the ultraleft zigzag [of the Stalinists], the Bordigists represent a reactionary force. Why look for intrigues and personal considerations when it is simply a consideration of principles?

Warmest communist greetings,

L. Trotsky